Budgeting for Success

- Final Budget -

After months of discussion and review, the Final 2009-10 Budget was approved by the Bloomington Board of Education on June 22, 2009. Bloomington Public Schools reduced its 2009-10 operating budget by $1.8 million, and can expect additional cuts the following year as a result of state school funding being frozen over the next two years. The District is preparing for budget shortfalls and staff layoffs for the foreseeable future.

The budget recommendations include over $687,000 in staffing and program reductions next year, including the loss of 12 full time equivalent positions. Those cuts, coupled with $853,000 in revenue enhancements and $230,000 in budget shifts account for the $1.8 million savings in the 2009-10 budget.

District officials are finalizing the 2009-10 budget, but may have to make last minute changes before the school board approves it later this month. Gov. Tim Pawlenty is using special gubernatorial power – called unallotment – to reduce spending and balance the state’s upcoming budget. The governor has said he planned to avoid making school budget cuts in his efforts to balance the state’s budget. He is likely to use funding “shifts,” which delay some state payments to schools by a year.